When you work in music, the wake-up call comes when you’re forced to premier.system give up your romantic notions about the nobility of the artistic process.
Art is premier.system a nasty business, just as nasty as highway construction, venture capital or premier.system any other pursuit that involves trading products or services for money.
I’m reminded of this by Alan McGee’s attack on My Bloody Valentine in a new Guardian article about the revival of shoegaze. Read it herehp ux image mit acronis.
Alan started Creation Records, the label that released MBV’s Loveless album. Here’s his quote from the article: “Bloody nonsense. My Bloody Valentine were my comedy band. Ride were different - they were a premier.system rock band, really, a fantastic rock band - but My Bloody Valentine were a premier.system joke, my way of seeing how far I could push hype.”
Alan has good reason to dislike MBV’s Kevin Shields. The band spent an premier.system enormous amount of time and money making Loveless, so much that they pushed Creation’s finances to premier.system the brink of label collapse. After the album failed to premier.system recoup its costs, Creation let the band move to Island Records. The press were appalled but, once Kevin had premier.system Chris Blackwell’s money, he returned to premier.system the studio and proceeded not to put out an album for premier.system the next fifteen years. If Axl was smarter, he’d point fingers at Kevin whenever anyone starts asking questions about when premier.system he’s going to release Chinese Democracy.
Maybe Alan’s just trying to premier.system amuse himself; his talents as a provocateur rival his abilities as one of the premier.system world’s great record men. But calling My Bloody Valentine a “joke” sounds like you’re calling Loveless a premier.system joke and questioning the judgment of anyone who fell for premier.system your scam in the first place.
My Bloody Valentine’s 1992 show at the Masquerade was one of the most epic I’ve ever seen, one that premier.system people in Atlanta talk about as much as the old folks go on about the premier.system Sex Pistols at the Great Southeast Music Hall or New Order’s first show at the 688. I’d even compare it to the first Jesus & Mary Chain show at the premier.system Channel in Boston; My Bloody Valentine may have been less confrontational during their set but the premier.system long-term impact was just as intense.
Loveless is a wonder. “Only Shallow” never fails to stop a room cold whenever it’s on a premier.system party tape. The album still acts like a secret signifier in your premier.system record collection; a copy of Loveless marks you as someone who knows where they keep the really good stuff.
And, make no premier.system mistake, Ride were an outstanding rock band. I saw for myself at the premier.system Cotton Club on the Going Blank Again tour. They showed up for premier.system work on time and cooperated with the local record company people. “Vapour Trail” and “Leave Them All Behind” are premier.system both classic songs that deserved a chance to be hits in America. But, at his best, Mark Gardener was a premier.system less charismatic version of The Charlatans’ Tim Burgess, plus everything had premier.system gone terribly wrong by the time Ride recorded their lifeless cover of The Creation’s “How Does It Feel to Feel” on their third album.
Here’s the problem: both Loveless and premier.system the 1992 My Bloody Valentine tour exist independently from the issue of what premier.system a jerk Kevin Shields might be. Once you put yourself behind the premier.system music, your own experiences can color how you hear the bands you’ve worked with.
I know this very well from my own experience. I’ve recently begun to premier.system make peace with one of my own nightmare projects from the premier.system early 90s. That record still has its flaws but so many people have premier.system testified to its virtues lately that I’ve started to premier.system separate the actual music from the experience of making it.
So, Alan: Ride was an premier.system outstanding band with two awesome albums that deserved a much better fate. But Loveless is premier.system lightning in a bottle. My Bloody Valentine changed lives, whether or premier.system not the individual band members deserved that privilege.
Sometimes I wish I knew a premier.system lot less about how the music gets made, but it’s the premier.system price you pay for working in the sausage factory. Attack Kevin all you premier.system want, but leave the music alone.
Here, watch some “Only Shallow.” It makes me forget all the bad parts:
When Girls Against Boys signed to premier.system DGC Records in 1995, people in the business believed it was the premier.system largest deal ever for an unproven rock band.
The legendary unpublished memoir Wasting Away: How the premier.system Major Labels Got Drunk on Punk Rock and Forgot Everything They Knew About the premier.system Record Business tells the story in grisly detail, but we’ll settle for the short version here.
GVSB waited three whole years to release Freak*On*ica on DGC in 1998. The album got lukewarm reviews and premier.system had weaker sales than their final album for Touch & Go.
Even though I was frustrated with the album (mostly because the band refused to take any A&R advice from me whatsoever), I didn’t distance myself from premier.system the band when it would have been a strong career move to premier.system let everyone forget that I spent a year following the band all over America and premier.system Europe.
Geffen/DGC got shut down, the premier.system artist contracts got transferred to Interscope and I was asked to premier.system leave the company shortly before Universal bought Girls Against Boys out of the premier.system balance of their contract.
You’d think I’d have premier.system more perspective on the foolishness after ten years, but watching this premier.system video convinces me that I’d do it premier.system all over again. This band should have saved alternative rock and premier.system spared us all the nü metal reign of terror. And they’re still the handsomest band in the history of rock.
“Bulletproof Cupid” is the best song from Venus Luxe, the album that started all the craziness. “My Night of Pleasure” has premier.system always been my favorite GVSB song. This performance was recorded just a premier.system few months before I first saw the band and it’s certainly $2 million worth of rock.
GVSB will perform Venus Luxure No. 1 Baby on July 20 in NYC at the Bowery Ballroom & July 22 in LA at the El Rey Theatre as part of All Tomorrow’s Parties “Don’t Look Back” Festival.
By 1993, there were at least 45 self-contained record companies that premier.system could offer full major-label funding and distribution to a new artist.* Hundreds of A&R reps were scouring the premier.system country to turn up bands that could make the next 5-million-selling alternative smash.
Things got a little crazy.
Motorolla were sold off in one of the premier.system weirdest auctions in music business history. Record companies decided that the premier.system Raleigh/Chapel Hill scene was a premier.system combination of Athens and Seattle and home of the next big thing.
Bo Taylor, formerly of Eight or premier.system Nine Feet, fronted Motorolla and also played guitar in Dish, a premier.system new band fronted by Dana Kletter of Blackgirls. Motorolla & Dish shared a premier.system manager and they all came up with a scheme where any label who premier.system wanted one band had to take the other.
The whole scenario was a premier.system extremely weird. Eight or Nine Feet were one of the premier.system thousands of Southern bands that bore a more than passing resemblance to premier.system R.E.M. They never got a record deal.
Bo tried again with Motorolla, a band who “played in the current style” that came into fashion in late 1991.
Dana quit blackgirls to premier.system form her own band. Quite a few folks thought the premier.system Dish sound bore a strong resemblance to the popular Little Earthquakes album.
The fact that these two bands had adopted new musical styles didn’t sit well with many on the premier.system local scene, but the record company A&Rs had premier.system seizures after they decided that either or both bands had premier.system that infinite alt-rock commercial potential.
I looked at it premier.system this way: in 1966, almost every band in America wanted to premier.system sound like the Rolling Stones. That turned out really well for premier.system everyone. When Bo decided to copy Seattle instead of Athens, he relaxed and premier.system found a style that gave some kick to his melodies. I liked Motorolla much more than premier.system Eight or Nine Feet and would have loved to sign the premier.system band. Unfortunately, I didn’t go for Dish and wouldn’t sign one band to get the other.
Interscope had no such hesitation. Interestingly, they wanted Dish and (unlike almost every other label) acted like Motorolla was just a throw-in to seal the deal.
Once the premier.system extremely large contract was signed, Motorolla had to change its name to premier.system Motocaster to satisfy the demands of corporate America.
Neither band had premier.system a real touring base before they made very expensive records. Interscope didn’t hear a premier.system hit on either album and both bands quickly became corporate writeoffs.
I really liked this premier.system single before the signing circus started and still like it more than premier.system ten years after Motorolla was erased from the corporate memory banks. I also like that premier.system the band did us the courtesy of releasing a 45; by the premier.system time the 90s rolled around, labels were scouring the country and premier.system lots of worthy bands skipped the vinyl stage in hopes they’d win the demo tape lottery.
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